RAWALPINDI: After the National College of Arts (NCA) failed to refurbish the historic Sujaan Singh Haveli, the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) has decided to preserve the building and turn it into a museum.

In 2013, NCA and the Boston Architectural College (BAC), US, entered into a cooperative agreement to develop a curriculum, build capacity and add online capabilities through student and faculty exchanges in the field of historic building preservation.

Under the programme, the NCA and BCA had to preserve the Sujaan Singh Haveli at a cost of $1 million in three years. However, despite getting training in the US, the NCA faculty failed to start the work.

The NCA took over the Haveli from the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) in 2013 for three years to establish a field school where the students and faculty would be trained on the conservation of the existing structure.

The project was launched in December 2013 and supposed to be complete in 2016. But after more than two years, no physical work could be initiated at the site.

A senior official of the NCA told Dawn that the FJWU vice chancellor lodged a complaint with the NCA for ruining the Haveli without launching the work.

Upon this, he said, the NCA wrote letters to the BAC in the US for funding but due to change in the administration of the US college, the funds could not be provided on time.

Taking notice of the matter, the CDGR decided to refurbish the building on its own resources.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall told Dawn that the CDGR had decided to establish a museum in the city and Sujaan Singh Haveli was the ideal place for it.

“We asked the NCA campus to provide expert assistance to preserve the site. The NCA will establish its field school in the building and three halls of the building would be turned into a museum.”

He said the CDGR would pay stipends to the NCA students and faculty and the NCA would impart technical support to its students to preserve the historical building.

He said the project would be completed in two phases. In the first phase, the NCA would restore the building and in the second the CDGR would display historical items such as documents and cultural objects in the museum. “We will display metro bus, railway station models as well as the documents of British Raj in the museum.”

When contacted, NCA director Dr Nadeem Omer Tarar said the NCA students and faculty members Abdul Wahid and Noor Jehan started the work to preserve the building as volunteers after seeing no response from the BCA.

He said the DCO visited the Haveli to see the work of the students and faculty to restore the building in its original shape.

“Now the NCA will provide technical assistance to the CDGR. The students and faculty members restored the original shape of the walls and pillars while scratching the white wash,” he said.

He said the NCA got not a single penny from the donors but the BCA provided training to its faculty members.

The 124-year-old majestic building, Haveli Sujaan Singh, located on the narrow streets of Bhabara Bazaar, was once the residence of renowned political figure Sardar Sujaan Singh.

The building is owned by Sujaan Singh and his family. It was constructed in 1890. The two-storey building is a fine specimen of brick masonry, facing the street with a front verandah and a central entrance in the centre.

The wooden door carved with animal and floral motifs opens into a Deorhi (an entrance hall) connected with an inner verandah attached to an open courtyard letting in air and sunlight.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2015